I'd be interested to know how your experience goes with the latency settings. Are you installing Traktor Pro 2? Last time I saw the multi-core feature fucked things up, but I haven't checked for an update recently.

___________________
My Soundcloud Page | The Free Soundcloud Stuff Thread

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J Levels is...decent...damn better than a lot of the shite dominating the charts at the moment. It sounds absolutely nothing like...a billion and one similar tracks in this big-room style. I always had a soft spot.

I have an HP Pavilion dv6 with an Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 @ 2.20 GHz and 4 GB of RAM. I think this link has the correct specs -> http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/hp-...7-33783861.html

Like I said, it runs fine. Is 4GB enough RAM or do I really need to upgrade? Ditto with the SSD? Would an external SSD be sufficient or would using a USB connection defeat the purpose of going solid state?

I hadn't thought of setting up a different user for DJing - that sounds brilliant. As I mentioned before, I know a Mac would be more solid. I have been using a PC everyday for 20 years. I use one all day at work. I am 37 years old and simply do not care to retrain myself - especially when I will still need to use a PC the majority of the time (for work).

I think if my laptop is up to snuff I may just try to talk my girlfriend into getting me an X1 instead... Hehe.

I have been running Pro 2 fine so far. The only hiccup I have had was when I first got and had AVG running in the background. I couldn't figure out why the graphics where being choppy - then I had a pop-up say "scan complete." Heh. So, it still ran with some minor hiccups while I was running an anti-virus scan. I've also had a friend come over to help me tune my machine. I also find out since I use Windows Media sharing with my PS3 it constantly runs in the background (or it did till I put a stop to it) and it is a huge memory hog. I so rarely stream media from my laptop to my PS3 that I just turned it off - however setting up a different user may fix that as well.

I really had no intention of upgrading my laptop until a new one was offered honestly. I'm really thinking the X1 is the way to go instead. =)

Again, thanks for all of the very helpful information. This is a great community and I knew asking here would get me answers I needed.

___________________
- Christian Michael

Wait. Do you play out? Or are we talking strictly about home use here?

Turning off any and all unrelated background tasks is an essential no-brainer, so you definitely should not be surprised if your A/V or media streaming utility is lowering performance.

Having an SSD plugged externally will absolutely defeat the purpose. I think that is pretty obvious.

Anyway my final recommendation to you is to add an SSD and 4 additional GB of ram. I wouldn't say the ram is a must, but honestly, it's pretty damn cheap and worth it. I think I'm actually going to expand my laptop soon from 4 to 8 as well.

___________________
My Soundcloud Page | The Free Soundcloud Stuff Thread

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J Levels is...decent...damn better than a lot of the shite dominating the charts at the moment. It sounds absolutely nothing like...a billion and one similar tracks in this big-room style. I always had a soft spot.

I do play out and from time to time have some pretty big gigs. I plan to expand that as well now that I am not restricting myself to vinyl. I had my PC guru friend tweak my system before my first gig so it ran great. When I had those hiccups it was within the first week of getting Traktor. It should have been obvious about the streaming thing for sure, but I actually make use of it so rarely I forgot it was enabled. When I ran a utility to see what was using memory I discovered that it was running in the background.

I am not a computer novice, nor am I a whiz. I pretty much now how to use the programs I need to use and I understand the logic of Windows, etc. But when it comes to hardware, etc., I don't know was as much.

I have swapped out drives and ram in a desktop before, but not laptop. I assume its not much different once you get it open. I know my 4 GB of ram is made up of 2 GB sticks, so I would need to buy two new 4 GB sticks to get 8. As far as swapping out the HDD to SDD, I know they connect the same so I am sure I can do that. Is there a way I can use my current HDD as an external?

___________________
- Christian Michael

As an aside, my first gig with it I actually got to play an extra hour because the guy that playing after me used Traktor as well, but with only his laptop with no controller using an Audio 2 (I believe). He had ASIO driver issues and couldn't play. That did not give me a warm and fuzzy as the dude was actually a Traktor veteran. That also means I will still be lugging around emergency vinyl...

___________________
- Christian Michael

Purchasing an 8GB kit of ram (2 4GB sticks of 1067 or 1333 RAM) should only cost about $40-45. Check crucial.com, they have an easy tool for checking your laptop options.

You can use the HDD in an external enclosure, sure (your existing drive).

Note that if you use the suggestion of getting an SSD, and you only purchase say a 120GB SSD, you might not have enough space on your internal drive. You might not want to lug around an external disk...

Try the second user account, it's free and quick to try out.

Thanks again!

___________________
- Christian Michael